The National Treasury is unable to account for Ksh2.58 billion advanced to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) by the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).
According to documents scrutinised by auditor general Nancy Gathungu for the year 2018/19, KDF was to receive Ksh6.5 billion from the African Union.
However, according to a letter dated July 26, 2018 by former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich to then Defense PS Torome Saitoti, Kenya was set to receive Ksh8.5 billion from AU.
Treasury Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Julius Muia was unable to explain the discrepancy when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chaired by Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi.
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Worse still, the National Treasury could only account for Ksh5.92 billion of the Ksh6.5 billion highlighted by the auditor general.
“No satisfactory explanation has been rendered for the under-collection and measures being put in place to avoid recurrence,” noted Ms Gathungu.
According to Dr Muia, the Department of Defence (DoD) works with “a trusted” officer in the accounts department, hence no were funds were lost. He however declined to name the “trusted officer”, citing “security issues”.
“It is a one line defense budget and we trust that our trusted officer is doing a good job,” said Dr Muia.
The unnamed officer has been at the DoD for more than 10 years, which “is not normal”, according to Dr Muia.
“We transfer officers after three years. We request that we be given more time to dig deeper into this matter,” said Dr Muia.
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